South Texas Property Owners Receive Notices To Survey Land For Border Wall

A majority of Americans may be opposed to President Donald Trump’s idea of building a wall along the southern border of the United States. However, this does not seem to hinder the administration as reports suggest more than 200 south Texas property owners have received notices from the federal government in order to survey their land as part of the wall construction.

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said the residents of Starr and Hidalgo counties received such requests, CBS-affiliated KENS5 News reported. He added people who were worried about land grab by the government should refrain from signing anything without asking questions.

Mayor of Escobares, a city in Starr county, was another person who was contacted by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to survey his land.

“I walk out the back door and what I’m going to see is a 30-foot fence,” Mayor Noel Escobar said, the Hill reported.

Apart from Escobares, the Rio Grande City School District also received a similar letter in May. Daniel Garcia, the school board’s president, said the government wanted to use a mile of land for “tactical infrastructure, such as a border wall.” However, he reportedly said, he was unaware the survey was related to the construction of the wall and if he had known would not have voted for its approval.

“When we voted for it, it was not for any specific reason. They just wanted to come in and survey the property,” said Garcia.

Apart from Americans opposing the wall, many in Texas are irked over the fact that the federal government is offering them only a fraction of the original value of the land.

One such homeowner, Felix Rodriguez, an 81-year-old resident of Roma, said he was offered $300 for part of his 500-square-foot property. However, the octogenarian is not agreeing to any price less than $1,500 for the segment of land.

“There’s no use for me to sell the land if I’m not going to get much from it,” Rodriguez told KENS 5.

One of the biggest campaign promises that Trump announced during his candidacy was the wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. He also said then Mexico will pay for the border.

"I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively," Trump said, announcing his candidacy on June 16, 2015. "I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall."

According to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, there is about 2,000 miles of land separating the two countries, of which in about 650 miles there are pedestrian and vehicle fencing.

A recent survey by the Washington Post and George Mason University’s Schar School found that more than 70 percent of the adults who were surveyed said they approved of the increased border security funding. However, 59 percent were opposed to the building of a wall and 64 percent did not approve of actions that prevented citizens of the country from bringing in relatives.